Czech President Petr Pavel is ready to appoint a minister for the environment, and is awaiting a new candidate for this post from PM Andrej Babis (ANO), the Presidential Office announced yesterday. However, the rejected candidate for the role, MP Filip Turek (Motorists), told reporters that his party is not going to propose anybody else.
Yesterday morning Babis and Pavel had bilateral talks, after which Babis said that he did not expect Turek to be appointed minister and declared the matter closed.
“The President reiterated that his decision not to appoint Filip Turek as minister was final,” the Presidential Office said in a press release. “He is convinced that the non-appointment is fully in line with the Constitution and that he has sufficiently explained his position in a letter to the Prime Minister based on constitutional arguments. The only institution that could decide otherwise is the Constitutional Court.”
However, Babis and Motorists’ leader Petr Macinka have both ruled out filing a competence lawsuit in the matter.
Turek said yesterday afternoon that the Motorists were not going to make further concessions to the president. However, he acknowledged it would not be ideal for Macinka to head both the Foreign and Environment Ministries for four years.
“I don’t think this is an ideal situation. It’s obviously a compromise, but it’s the president’s problem. We can’t do anything more about it. We’ve made a concession and we won’t make any more,” Turek said in an interview with Czech Radio.
Babis will not exert pressure on the Motorists to propose another candidate for environment minister, he said in Rome yesterday afternoon, following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. However, it does not appear that they want to submit a new proposal at this time, he told reporters. “We have, of course, a coalition agreement that clearly states that each coalition party nominates its own candidates, and I therefore have no way of changing their opinion,” said Babis.
“The fact is that we have reached a stalemate,” he said, adding that he no longer wanted to deal with this matter. “I assume that this was, I hope, the last confrontation on the part of the coalition partners,” he added.
The Motorists originally nominated Turek for foreign minister, but after Pavel voiced his reservations about Turek, they nominated their leader Petr Macinka as foreign minister and Turek as environment minister. Pavel refused to appoint Turek as a cabinet member in December, and he has held firm on this position. The president said he refused to appoint Turek because of public statements repeatedly expressing admiration for Nazi Germany, questioning the dignity and equality of women and members of various minorities, and downplaying violent acts of hatred, including those committed against young children.
Macinka came into conflict with the president over his refusal to appoint Turek to the government. Demonstrations in support of the president were held on Sunday in the center of Prague and other cities, attended by tens of thousands of people. Another demonstration is planned for 15 February.
In January, the new government of ANO, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and Motorists appointed Turek as its commissioner for climate change and the Green Deal, and his office is located at the Environment Ministry.
